The other night I finished reading Lighten Up by Angela Ruth Strong, so I thought I’d do a review of it. When I first read the description, I was intrigued and hoped that it wouldn’t follow the norm for such plot lines. Here’s the description:

Bethany Light is the daughter of a minister who can’t forgive her father for running off with the church secretary. She goes to her own pastor for counsel, never expecting to fall in love with him. To make matters worse, she’s personal training his fiancé in preparation for the big day and somehow ends up in their wedding. Refusing to make the same mistake her dad made, Bethany tries to focus on fixing her family rather than face her own issues. How could a household that used to have it all together have fallen so far from grace? And how can she keep from following in her father’s footsteps when it feels so right?

I downloaded the book, eager to see if it was the refreshing read I thought it would be. For the most part, I wasn’t disappointed. Of course, there were elements of the book that I didn’t like. For instance, it took me a long while (until the end of the book, actually) to really like the main character, Bethany. She is a personal trainer, who, despite claiming people being judgmental is a pet peeve of hers, seems to define people by their appearance. For example, she refers to one woman as “Chubby” even though she knows her name. She also spends a lot of time criticizing, her pastor’s fiancee, Brooke. Which brings me to another issue I have with the book: Brooke is not a likeable character, either. Current love interests that have very few redeeming qualities is a trope I dislike most in stories with love triangles. The sad thing is, Bethany is not the only one who is critical of her: Brooke’s soon to be mother-in-law is critical of her, and even Eric, the pastor she is engaged to, comes across as critical of her. I spent the whole story wondering why Eric was with her, not because I would rather see him with Bethany, but because he never talks all that kindly or highly of her. Perhaps I’m just spoiled by my husband, but I am inclined to think that when a man is in love, he would be eager to go on and on about how wonderful his girl is. The only good thing said about Brooke is that she is “on fire for God”, but even that trait of hers is portrayed in such an obnoxious way that it becomes another negative quality. As an editor myself, I cannot help but notice typos and grammatical errors, and this book has quite a few. However, I know that even editors are human and don’t always catch every mistake. The errors in this book weren’t so drastic as to take away any enjoyment from my reading, but I noticed them nonetheless. Despite all this criticism, there are numerous great things about this book. I found it to be candid and real. I appreciated the way Angela Ruth Strong portrayed the feelings of hurt and betrayal through the character of Bethany, but also showed her growth. I am not sure if the other books in this series are about Bethany too, but I rather hope so - I would love to see how she grows further. **Skip this portion if you don’t like spoilers**

At the beginning of the book, Bethany begins counseling sessions with Eric. Even though the door is left open so the secretary can provide some accountability, I found myself thinking, “this is going to lead to a dangerous place.” Fact of the matter is, though, that kind of thing happens too much. Even when some accountability is present, it is often not enough; a man and woman speaking of private matters (common in counseling sessions) builds some level of emotional intimacy. Too many times, it is gone unchecked, as it is in this story. Eric invites Bethany to Christmas with his family and Brooke - a move with so much potential trouble that I wanted to slap him. As it so happens, Eric’s father at first thinks Bethany is his son’s fiance, and then later Eric’s mother takes more of a liking to Bethany than Brooke. I couldn’t help but think how unwise it was for Eric to invite Bethany and couldn’t believe he didn’t realize that. Eric and Bethany spend more time together than they should. It is usually in public or in counseling, but as mentioned before, these interactions are what make the situation treacherous. I felt myself wanting to admonish the characters and warn them about the thin line they were treading. The majority of the book deals with Bethany’s difficulty in forgiving her father for cheating on her mother. She is convinced she’s not going to get married because she never wants to experience that kind of hurt. She also has feelings of resentment towards Corrine, the woman with whom her father had the affair. However, she never realizes that she herself is capable of the same sins. I love that Ms. Strong wrote it this way; so many of us are hypocritical, but are convinced we are not. In this case, Bethany realizes near the end that she’s in love with Eric and wants to tell him. Since Eric isn’t married, Bethany doesn’t see it as adultery or unfaithfulness. Luckily though, her sister-in-law and mother both counsel her against telling him. In fact, her mother tells her that if she is to tell anyone about it, it should be Brooke. Bethany is determined to tell him anyway, but changes her mind at the last minute. Instead, she confesses to Brooke, and makes the decision to stop hanging out with Eric and to move to another church. It was such a great ending to this story. I’ve known several young women who have had crushes on pastors who were married or betrothed; these women somehow convinced themselves they were justified and, for whatever reason, didn’t need to leave the church. It was so refreshing to see Bethany flee this situation for the sake of Eric, Brooke, and herself. I also enjoyed the subplot with Christian and Laurel: Christian’s struggle with pornography and the effect it had on their marriage. I would have liked to see more of that, but perhaps that is in another book in the series. I shall have to read to find out. :)**End Spoilers**All in all, I would recommend this book. Just be forewarned that it is not the romanticized tale of a love triangle. Instead it is a very real and at times, uncomfortable, story of temptation and the struggle of making choices in the face of it.

Earlier today, I picked up a book I own. It was a Christian Romance book. I started flipping through the pages, trying to remind myself which book it was. See, I have a difficult time differentiating between Christian romance novels in my head. Why? Because they are all so similar. I think I’ve only read a couple which break the mold. (One of them I basically commissioned someone to write.) I find these novels enjoyable enough, and when the hopeless romantic in me wants to read a story, this is usually the genre I turn to. Lately, though, I’ve become increasingly bothered by this genre. It seems nearly every Christian romance novel I've read has one main character who is a Christian from the beginning, and one who is not. Yet, they still date. What strikes me even more is how often the Christian is the one pursuing the relationship. It just seems funny to me given that I’ve never met one person who thinks “missionary dating” is wise. Sad thing is, many of the books like this address some valid issues. It’s common for the non-Christian to have some doubts about God’s existence and such. I frequently find myself thinking if the author separated that story line from the romance story, they would be two decent books. Reading these, I also find myself thinking, “You know, Christian couples do have other situations in their lives that would make the story worth telling.” Another issue I have is how many of these novels have rather racy scenes in them. They are what I have dubbed “pre-erotica”. It’s almost as if some of these books were written for those women who are curious about erotica, or want to read it, but feel they shouldn’t. These stories get as close to the line of erotica as they can without kicking themselves out of the Christian category. Pushing boundaries isn’t the best idea in real life - I don’t know why putting it in a book would make it any better. Then there is the fact that it seems half of the romance books in the Christian section of the bookstore have an Amish setting. I personally have not read any of these. I tried one once and couldn't get into it, and I've just never picked up another one. I'm not saying they are all bad - perhaps I just tried one of the lesser quality ones.. I'm sure part of the reason this setting is so popular is that purity is expected within that culture. Thinking of that, though, makes me shake my head - purity isn't supposed to be an Amish thing, it's supposed to be a Christian thing. Finally, you have those “Christian” novels which barely mention God. More often than not, it seems to me that the authors just wanted their stories to fall into this category, so they toss in a few uses of the word “God” here and there, and call it a day. This doesn’t make or break the romance story, but it doesn’t add anything of substance to it, either.Of course, some have more than one of these tropes. Maybe they should get credit for at least mixing and matching. I currently have a story idea in my head that would be Christian romance, but wouldn’t contain any of the above tropes. Perhaps I’ll write it someday. (Probably not, though.)

After I got tagged to pick my 10 favorite screen characters, I started to think about my least favorite, and thought it would be fun to do a post about those as well. I may even tag others to do the same! Mwahaha! These aren't necessarily going to be villains, though they could be if I just don't think they are good villains. I mean, I can't stand Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter, but she would never make this list - she is one heck of a villain. Also, I will be saying why these characters are my least favorite, because thinking about them makes me want to rant, so rant I will! Once again, I must give advance warning that this post will contain spoilers. Read on with caution.

Anyway, here are my 10 least favorite screen characters.

1) Haddie Braverman from Parenthood. Parenthood is one of my favorite shows, but dang, Haddie drove me nuts! I was actually excited that the actress went off to college and therefore the character did as well. I don't have anything against the actress - I just couldn't stand Haddie. At first I thought that her story had such potential, seeing as she was the older sister of a boy with asperger's syndrome. However, I was disappointed with how they just made her a whiny, rebellious teenager, who ran away from home when she couldn't date the boy she liked. I felt like I was watching a teeny-bopper show rather than the great show I actually was watching. Just couldn't stand that plot line, and I never thought they recovered from that.

2) Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls First of all, I have a love-hate relationship with this show. I mostly watch it now for nostalgia purposes, because I was all about it when it was made. Rory, though, wrankles my ire. I have a very low tolerance for infidelity - specifically when it's made to look romantic. To be quite honest, Rory started bothering me when Jess made his appearance. Sure, she didn't technically cheat on Dean with him (except for that one kiss), but she definitely crossed the line emotionally pretty early - I pinpoint the lunch basket auction episode as the moment it happened. Then, when she slept with Dean while he was still married - that was the moment I started to hate that people would refer to me as "a Rory." YUCK!

3) Frodo from Lord of the Rings I know, it's awful of me! Truth be told, I don't have anything against him, really. It's just that he gets so much of the credit while Samwise gets overlooked. Balderdash!

4) Padme from Star Wars Really? You are shocked when your husband wants to overthrow the Jedi? That's when you decide he's not who you thought he was? That's when he breaks your heart? It wasn't before, in Episode II, when he committed ethnic cleansing against the Sand People? Honestly....

5) Cruella from Once Upon a Time I didn't mind when they brought her in as a villain, even though, as my husband said, she was from London, not a fairy tale land. Giving her some weird green breath that can control animals, though? Just no. I know this show is all about twists, and normally I find them fun and interesting, but this one was just reaching too far.

6) Terri Schuester from Glee Now, granted, I've only watched the first few episodes of the first season, but this was one of the reasons I stopped watching. This character had no redeeming qualities and was so one-dimensional. She only served to create drama and make you want the guy to leave his wife for the guidance counselor. There's too many of those kind of characters in the television and movie world. No thank you.

7) Josephine from Tombstone I give movie Wyatt Earp credit for not actually getting together with Josephine until after his wife dies, but this woman bothers me. Mostly because, being aware that he is married she still goes after him. I detest her line, "I'm a woman, I like men." Contrary to what my husband likes to say just to annoy me, she is not simply stating that she is heterosexual.

8) Daniel Plainview from There Will be Blood This is probably one that shouldn't be on my list, but is anyway. The story is a great character study, and I think if I had read the book first (things like this are somehow easier to take and appreciate in book form) he would not be on my list. As it happens, I saw the movie first, and just kept being more and more appalled by this guy. Admittedly, it was mostly because of the way he treated his son. Perhaps it's because I adore kids so much, but people being awful to their children is something that just gets to me. So, he makes it on my list.

9) Edward from Twilight Realistically, my whole list could have been from this saga - I can only stand Charlie and Jacob. I'll just stick to Edward though. I will not let my daughter read Twilight when she is older. I don't want her swooning over Edward like so many other teenagers (and some older women apparently) do. Edward and Bella's relationship is just not a healthy one, and Edward is not an example of a good boyfriend. He is rather stalker-ish, as he goes in her room at night to watch her sleep. He tries to control who she is friends with and what she does. Then of course, there's the ick factor: he's really like a century old, and he's in a relationship with a teen. I just can't get over that one.

10) Laurel from ArrowArrow is also one of my favorite shows, but I just cannot seem to take a liking to Laurel. I've tried, and honestly every episode I still do try. I can't decide if it's the way they write her or the way the actress plays her, but I just don't care. Whenever she's in danger I find myself thinking, "Oh well." The only ounce of care about her I have comes from the fact that I like her dad. She's just meh.

I was tagged by my husband to list my 10 favorite screen characters. I don't know that I will tag people, or at least many, because it seems so many have already been tagged. Anywho, here are my top 10 from movies/Tv shows.

"There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you. That's never possible."Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)

I don't know how I started thinking about this today, but literary deaths are on my mind. There are so many that make for great fiction and will always evoke great emotion from me, no matter how many times I read the books. Hopefully these are well known enough that I won't be spoiling anything for anyone. Read on with caution...

Johnny Cade from The OutsidersBeth March from Little WomenTom Robinson from To Kill a MockingbirdSeverus Snape from Harry PotterTommy Ross from Carrie

Then, there is the one death that I will just never get over. There is one death that will always make me, not only cry, but bawl my eyes out. It's the one death that makes me want to scold the author, as much as I adore her writing. And that is the death of Fred Weasley.

I may or may not be fighting back tears right now just thinking about it...

I'm just grateful I'm not the only one who gets attached to fictional characters.

How did I become such a big grammar freak? Well, I'll tell you....I don't know. No, I'm kidding - and now it's going to drive me nuts trying to think what that is from. But I digress...

I was born into a family of Nazis. Grammar Nazis that is. (I am thankfully from a German heritage which sought to defy Hitler.) We are so passionate about grammar that there is an infamous sweatshirt, which admittedly hasn't been seen for a while, that would get passed around at family gatherings. It was a hideous thing sporting terrible grammar. Make a grammatical error, and in our family, you had to wear the sweatshirt and the stigma that comes with it. My family is full of grammar Nazis who, upon seeing incorrect grammar on a sign, will stop in front of the store, gas station, restaurant, or even, dare I say, church. The freaks in my family must inform someone that a mistake has been made. It is not unheard of for two aunts to pass the same offending sign in one day and for both to make a stop, unbeknownst to the other. So, I guess you could say I was indoctrinated into being a grammar freak. However, there came a time when I had to decide for myself if I really did want to be a grammar Nazi. In high school, I found out it wasn't just because of my family - I really was in love with grammar! In ninth grade, my English class was taught by a man who cared more about teaching us how to write well than giving us lessons in literature. We read some, of course, but the majority of the class focused on writing and learning how to edit. I ended up with the same teacher for my 10th grade English class, and it was more of the same. I actually remember feeling jealous that in October, other classes were reading The Scarlet Letter while we were still working on perfecting our summer writing assignments. However, I loved it. I loved it so much that my senior year, I jumped at the chance to be in his Enriched English Literature class. Perhaps they should have simply named it "Enriched English," because we did not read one piece of literature that semester. As luck would have it, I also had this teacher for the Shakespeare class I took. We read Hamlet and Twelfth Night. That's it. The rest of the time was devoted to writing. My love of grammar was also spurred on by my Spanish classes. Sure, I love the language, being able to communicate with Spanish speakers, and learning about Hispanic culture, but I mostly love that a whole new world of grammar was opened to me!

That's how it all began years ago. Now, here I am, diving into the freelance editing business. Hopefully I can put my inner grammar freak to good use.

There's a story that I've had in my head, and heart really, for over a decade now. Every couple years I toy with the idea of actually writing it. Lately, I've been seriously pondering finally doing so. I've even starting jotting down my notes about it rather than just leaving the thoughts to float around in my brain. I even have an idea for a prologue I think would work well. My problem is that I'm so attached to this story that I need the writing of it to be superb. I don't know that I trust myself to do it justice. Yet, it's not like anyone else could either - not because there aren't some great writers out there, but just because the story is so me. I could just write it - it's not like anyone has to actually read it, save for my husband. At least then, it wouldn't be stuck in my brain for another couple decades. There's also the question of which way to go with the ending. There are two similar endings in my head: one would mean the book would fall in the genre of Christian Fiction, and the other would just be fiction. Maybe if I do write it, I'll write two versions and see which I like best, but that seems like a lot of work, no?

This probably doesn't deserve a blog post, but I wanted to make a post today and this is what's on my mind. So there you go.

Can it really have been five months ago that our little girl finally became an outside baby? While I was pregnant, people were constantly telling me to cherish the time because it will fly. I knew from being a nanny for several years that that was the case, but I never expected it to fly quite this quickly. When our baby girl was born, our world was flipped completely. I thought I would never get the hang of life again. Yet, here we are, exactly five months later, and I want time to slow down. I might even wish time could reverse so I could do it all again - okay maybe not all, but a lot. Then again, I wouldn't trade where we are now for anything! Now we are enjoying life with this lovely little lady who brightens every day. She is the happiest little one, who constantly tries to outdo herself in how loudly she can squeal. She may be fussy at times lately because of teething, but sing her the Royal Navy song and she instantly smiles and is her squealing self again. Or, ask daddy to come in the room and simply say her name, and she'll grin ear to ear and then blush, just like her mother. Then again, if daddy leaves, you are in for a grumpy baby moment. Read her a horrible book and she will give you a look that says, "What are you reading? Why are you corrupting my mind with this?" Take her into the kitchen and she'll babble at the coffee pot. Get yourself a cup of coffee, and she'll eye it the whole time you are drinking...she may even lean forward with her mouth open, like she expects you to let her have some, too. Talk to her and she'll make eye contact, listen intently, and even do some chatting with you. She's our little social butterfly, but she still has her moments when she doesn't recognize someone and lets her discomfort show. Oh, and did I mention she's the cutest baby in the world? I know all parents say that, but I just happen to be right. So, anyway, here's to celebrating five months of being a blessed mother of such a precious little one! And here's to the coming month, which is bound to be even more wonderful!